A marketing co-operative as a system of attributes

Changes in the market conditions for fruit and vegetables have induced Dutch co-operative auctions to restructure their sales and marketing activities. Nine auctions merged into VTN and established the marketing organisation The Greenery International BV. VTN/The Greenery have encountered many problems in their first years of operation. Part of these problems can be explained by the lack of organisational coherence in the new co-operative enterprise. VTN/The Greenery is analysed from the perspective of a system of organisational attributes. While the old system is taken apart, a new, coherent system has not been fully established. Further restructuring may have to take place before the new system of attributes will be efficient.